The undeniably talented Jean-Luc Godard's main character is Paul Godard (Jacques Dutronc), a filmmaker whose world is inhabited by prostitutes, actresses, a greedy ex-wife and grasping daughter. Ah! The weaker sex.... A director tells an actress what to do as a john addresses a prostitute and through a potpourri of techniques (superimposition, slow motion, jump cuts, swish pans, and pretentious title cards), Godard is eager to show the audience who's The Boss. None of these methods can obscure the lack of a solid story structure as he offered in his early masterpieces with similar themes: "Vivre Sa Vie" ("My Life to Live, 1962) and "Le Mepris" ("Contempt, 1963), which, happily, featured more opportunities for compassion and fewer for self-consciousness. The current effort has been done apparently, because in the words of writer Marguerite Duras, quoted herein, "Because I can't bear to do nothing, I make films. There's no other reason." But sometimes nothing is more than something and, like johns, audiences have a right to their expectations.
Review of Every Man for Himself
